Three Reflections on Empathy – Recording Out!

I’m so happy to announce that the recording of Three Reflections on Empathy is release today to the world – a work for accordion and string quartet!! 

Listen/Purchase on Bandcamp

In a world increasingly fuelled by hate, it’s easy to forget the good in humanity.  One of our greatest strengths is our ability to empathize with those in need or experiencing pain. I composed this work almost 12 years ago thanks to the commission to Michael Bridge who has been since a very important artistic collaborator and friend of mine. The music inspired by three poems by three classical Iranian poet icons (Hafez, Rumi, Saadi), explores the concept of empathy through music. 

I’m so grateful to have the incredible musicians and a powerful artwork by Pardiss Amerian.

This art piece, titled Washing Weeping Willow, visualizes Shahrzad and her lesser-known, forgotten sister, Dinazaad, from A Thousand and One Nights. Fused into one body arching over water, they embody a profound form of creative empathy: the late-night coming together of sisters to heal a wounded, vengeful ruler through the power of storytelling. 

Just as the artwork merges two souls over water to heal a wound, these compositions seek to connect our shared human experience through music. 

The first movement, inspired by Saadi’s poem, portrays this message: an injury to one member or group in society is an injury to all. Feeling the pain of others is represented here as dissonant threats to tonal melodic elements.

The second movement, based on the Hafez’s poem, is about the persistence of unconditional love. A sustaining, one bar musical pattern is repeated throughout, continuous despite confrontation by challenges and interruptions. The musical mode is such that no great expectations are built up, just as the sun has no expectation of the earth receiving its life-giving heat and light.

The last movement uses many of the same musical motives and passages from the first movement, referring back to the relationship between the individual and the whole. According to Rumi’s poem, each individual possesses within them the suffering and joy of the world.

1. Saadi:

“Humans are the limbs of the same body,
and are from the same essence in their creation.
When the conditions of the time hurt one of these parts, other parts will suffer from discomfort, as well.”Selections from Saadi’s Gulisan, translated by Richard Jeffrey Newman (Global Scholarly Publications 2004)

2. Hafez:

“And still, after all this time, The sun never says to the earth, “You owe Me.”

Look what happens with A love like that,
It lights the Whole Sky.”http://www.values.com/inspirational-quotes/7170-even-after-all-this-time-the-sun-never-says-to

3. Rumi:

“You are not a drop in the ocean. You are the entire ocean in a drop.”http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/848553-you-are-not-a-drop-in-the-ocean-you-are

Thanks for all your support and being on my blog and mailing list. It means a lot.

Cheers,
Pouya